It's February, the month of groundhogs and Civil Rights. But today those things have been pushed to the back of my mind as DC Comics let out a bombshell today. After 25 years, DC is finally touching Watchmen once again. Why is this big? Watchmen, a series helmed by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons in 1986, has been considered one of the best series of the medium, rivaling up with Niel Gaiman's "Sandman". It was not only important for how well it was written among other comics in its day, but is attributed to the shift in tone for comics. Whether Watchmen is truly the final straw that brought in an age of grit and darker tones is debatable, it's undeniable that it had a major influence on comics.
The 12-issue comic was based in an alternate reality where time differentiated once 1938, when Superheros enter the world, though there's less "super" in them than there was "hero". The plot of the series involves a murder mystery of one of the Watchmen's old teammates. The Watchmen were the 2nd team of heroes, coming off the heels of "The Minutemen", the first group of Superheros. One member feels the murder is more than just some petty crime, and deduces it must be a plot to get rid of all the former Watchmen members.
That's just a basic premise, and will remain so. I highly recommend checking the series out, even if you're not fully into comics, for this book will help you understand why a lot of people do. Concerning the news of today, DC has assembled an all star team of writers and artists dedicated to writing seven different books based off of individual characters from the original series (instead of condensing it all into one book under "Before Watchmen" or something). The book is supposedly set as a prequel. As it stands, here's what we have:
I like what I'm seeing here. I haven't read much of Azzarello's stuff, but he and Scott Snyder have been the current stars of DC's relaunch of their 52 titles. And the small snippets I have read of his current Wonder Woman run are great, so I have confidence in him. The artist Lee Bermejo fits the tone of Rorshach completely considering his art in "Joker" was grade A.
Darwyn Cooke is already a perfect choice for Minutemen, as Cooke is best known for his "Justice League: New Frontier" book, a comic based around a more pulpier Justice League. I feel that he's justified on Silk Spectre as well, and I'm sure he'll do a good run with her considering how well I think he writes his women.
Wein has a good history with Watchmen, as he was the editor for the original series. Let's hope he gives it a good go.
Writer JMS is the only one on here I'm wary about. The man has continually shown he can hit a bulls-eye multiple times. The problem is that doesn't necessarily make him a marksman. I was not a huge fan of his Superman run, and that's being generous. I just think that with a name like Watchmen, I don't necessarily see DC's logic in picking him. He has a somewhat spotty record, and again, this is Watchmen we're talking about. You simply don't take risks with Watchmen. Still, he's a name that doesn't automatically put major worry into my mind, so we'll see what happens.
And in the heat of all of this, the writer of the original series, Alan Moore, has come out and showed his "interest" in the revival
"I tend to take this
latest development as a kind of eager confirmation that they are still
apparently dependent on ideas that I had 25 years ago...I don’t want
money,” he said. “What I want is for this not to happen. As far as I
know, there weren’t that many prequels or sequels to ‘Moby-Dick.’"-Moore
I would first like to state that Moby Dick is not the representative of all of literature. The book's author, Melville, even stated that it was more so a draft of a draft, and it shows. Either way, I initially disagreed with Alan, but JMS later made a statement that made it clear I disagree'd with him:
JMS: The perception that these characters shouldn’t be
touched by anyone other than Alan is both absolutely understandable and
deeply flawed. As good as these characters are – and they are very good
indeed – one could make the argument, based on durability and
recognition, that Superman is the greatest comics character ever
created. But I don’t hear Alan or anyone else suggesting that no one
other than Shuster and Siegel should have been allowed to write
Superman. Certainly Alan himself did this when he was brought on to
write Swamp Thing, a seminal comics character created by Len Wein. -
Hollywood reporter
Alan himself, has been using various characters from other literature in his comics for a very long time. Dr. Jekyll, Captain Nemo, Peter Pan, etc. Moore has no right to disallow these writers and artists to expand on his creation. Like JMS said, I can understand emotionally why Alan would feel irritated, but in the end, Watchmen will still be there in the end. Yes yes, DC is simply doing this as a cash-grab, they don't care about the artistic liberties here. But I feel that this is a monumental task for these writers and artists, and in a way, an honor of the highest degree. At this point, failing the fans would be the single worst thing to happen in their career. They know this, and they're going to give it all they've got. If the writers and artists have a strong passion, who is anyone to say they can't expand on such a title, especially a grumpy, old man?
